Life is too short to stay in one place

October 12, 2017October 2, 2018

Speicherstadt, Hamburg 2017

Brick buildings, canals, bridges: Hamburg’s Speicherstadt. The world’s largest connected warehouse complex was built at the end of the 19th century and is characterized by brick Gotic of the Wilhelminian era. Since 1991, it is a protected monument and is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites since July 5, 2015, with the neighboring Kontorhaus district and the Chilehaus.

The Speicherstadt was built between 1883 and 1927 south of the old town on the former Elbinseln and residential quarters Kehrwieder and Wandrahm in three sections; the first part was finished 1888. The Speicherstadt was built as a free port area, where merchants were allowed to store their goods free of customs duties. The warehouses are built on oak piles, and the district is traversed by the so-called Fleeten, which are flooded according to the tide and can then be navigated by ship. The descent mostly takes place at the landing bridges in St. Pauli. Each house has access to the water and the street.

Today, when walking through the streets, you need a little imagination to imagine what has happened here, because goods are hardly stored here. Only in making buildings are still storage rooms for oriental carpet. In the past, coffee, tea, and spices were stored here beside rugs.